Food article dispenser having spring biased cover for single-article dispensing

ABSTRACT

A food dispenser including a circular distributor having radial vanes for storing food articles. The distributor is rotatably fixed to a shaft which is caused to rotate in fixed increments by a solenoid controlled pawl and ratchet assembly. A chute is disposed underneath the distributor so that a single food article positioned between adjacent radial vanes is dispensed to the chute when the article is disposed above the chute opening. A chute cover is freely mounted to the shaft and insures that only one food article is dispensed at a time. A heating assembly is located beneath the distributor which heats the articles in the dispenser.

United States Patent Walter H. Rhindress [72] Inventor 64 N. HarborDrive, Ocean Ridge, Fla. 33444 [21] Appl. No, 827,204 [22] Filed May23,1969 [45] Patented July 20,1971

[54] FOOD ARTICLE DISPENSER HAVING SPRING BIASED COVER FOR S1NGLEART1CLEDISPENSING 4 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

[52] U.S.C1 221/150 A, 221/1 13, 221/265 [511' Int. Cl A24f 27/14 [50]FieldofSearch 221/13, 113, 150, 265; 99/326 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 1,184,074 5/1916 Clark 221/265 X 1,425,531 8/1922 Mabey..221/150(A) UX 1,490,365 4/1924 Du Grenier 221/265 PrimaryExaminer-Joseph R. LeClair Assistant Examiner-Steven E. LipmanAttorneys-Clarence A. O'Brien and Harvey B. Jacobson ABSTRACT: A fooddispenser including a circular distributor having radial vanes forstoring food articles. The distributor is rotatably fixed to a shaftwhich is caused to rotate in fixed increments by a solenoid controlledpawl and ratchet assembly. A chute is disposed underneath thedistributor so that a single food article positioned between adjacentradial vanes is dispensed to the chute when the article is disposedabove the chute opening. A chute cover is freely mounted to the shaftand insures that only one food article is dispensed at a time. A heatingassembly is located beneath the distributor which heats the articles inthe dispenser.

PATENTEUJULEOIB?! 3,593,882

sum 1 OF 3 l Walter H. Rh/ndress INVIL'NTOK PATENTEU JUL20 I97! SHEU 2BF 3 Fig 2 Walter H. Rhindress INVI'JN'IOK.

and Emi SHEET '3 OF 3 Fig .4

PATENTEU JUL20 1971 S .0 #6 i V m I R a I 1- u H r O e 0 6 w 8 6 U I 6 u6 W n 6 M 2 w u 4 w 2 L n x u a 5 Q. 9 u 8 u u n w n n in 0 0 w M 2 Q 0Z 9 n l O n 6 u n 9 o o u u u z a a u -IIIII 11.1: IIIZIII. M 9 2 u 0 Um J A a a I r v I A a! n 4 u m 1 H FOOD ARTICLE DISPENSER HAVING SPRINGBIASED COVER FOR SINGLE-ARTICLE DISPENSING The present invention relatesto food article dispensers.

It is common in restaurants and other places, where food is served, todispense food articles such as rolls by hand. In cer tainestablishments, rolls are manually taken from a heater bin beforeserving. When they are required for serving, they are removed by hand toa serving plate. Such an operation causes rapid drying out of the rollsdue to the elevated temperatures to which the rolls are subjected. Also,the procedure is unsanitary inasmuch as the food product is touched bythe server's hands.

The present invention includes an automatic dispensing device forarticles and in particular food articles. The dispenser is designed toautomatically dispense a single article whenever a trigger switch iscontacted by a serving plate. The dispenser plate is disposed below thechute so that after the trigger switch is actuated, a single foodarticle, such as a roll, is deposited on the plate. Heater means areprovided in the dispenser so that the food articles can be kept wann.However, the dispenser is constructed so that it is relatively airtightthereby retarding the drying process which makes rolls and similar foodproducts stale. Additional benefits by use of the present inventionreside in the sanitary nature of the device inasmuch as it dispensesfood articles without the necessity of having a server touch them byhand. Further, it is a time saver inasmuch as it takes only one hand tooperate the dispenser.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of the external appearance of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating the interiorcomponents of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken along a plane passingthrough section line 3-3 of FIG. 2. I

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken along a plane passingthrough section line 4-4 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along a plane passingthrough section line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a partial sectional view illustrating the motion impartingmechanism of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of a pawl and ratchet assembly for effectingshaft rotation.

FIG. 8 is a partial sectional view taken along a plane passing throughsection line 8-8 of FIG. 3 illustrating the relation between the chuteof the dispenser, the distributor means and the chute cover.

Referring to the drawings and more particularly FIG. 1 thereof, thepresent article dispenser is generally indicated by reference numeral 10and is seen to include a housing 12 having a removable cover 14 topermit the loading of the dispenser. If desired, a glass pane 16 may bemounted in the front wall of the housing to permit the viewing of thearticles in the dispenser. Although the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention is explained in terms of a food article dispenser forhandling rolls or the like, it will be appreciated that the mechanism ofthe dispenser may be employed to dispense other articles including thoseusually dispensed by vending machines.

The base 18 of the housing rests upon a supporting surface such as acounter 20. Protruding legs 21 extend downwardly from the base and areadapted to engage the front edge of the supporting surface to preventrearward sliding of the dispenser when a plate is pressed against switchtrigger 22 caUsing an article to be dispensed onto the plate from thedispenser chute exit 24.

Referring to FIG. 2, the internal mechanism of the presen invention isseen to include a centrally disposed vertically oriented shaft 26. Ahorizontally disposed base plate 28 is connected to the walls of thehousing 12 and serves as a boundary between the food handling mechanismabove the base plate and the motion imparting mechanism disposed beneaththe plate.

The food handling components include a roll or food article Distributorcharacterized as a hollow frustoconical member 30 constructed from afirst tubular section 31 capping the upper portion of shaft 26, and alower inverted conical section 32. The upper end of spreading tubularsection 31 engages the vanes end 33 of shaft 26 rendering verticalsupport to the frustoconical member 30. Deflection plates 34, also seenin FIG. 3, guide the rolls away from the housing corners into thecentral housing portion. Distributor means are fixed to the 'shaft 26below the frustoconical member 30. The distributor means is generallyindicated by reference numeral 36 and as shown in FIG. 3, it includes adownwardly spreading frustoconical section 38 having radial vanes orarms 40 extending therefrom. The frustoconical portion of thedistributor means includes apertures 42 therein to permit heat flowthercthrough as hereinafter explained. The upper central portion of thedistributor means 36 includes a boss or collar fastener 44 allowing thedistributor means to be fastened to the rotatable shaft 26. An annularplate 46 is supported atop base plate 28 and forms a surface upon whichthe rolls in the distributor means slide, when the distributor means isrotated.

In order to understand the operation of the present invention, referenceis made to FIG. 3 which illustrates a top plan view of the distributormeans. When the dispenser housing is filled with rolls, thefrustoconical member 30 guides or feeds rolls into the chambers formedby adjacently positioned radial vanes or arms 40. Thus, in actualoperation of the device, each of the chambers defined by the radialvanes will contain a single roll. A mechanism examined hereinafter,caUses incremental motion of shaft 26 which in turn translates thismotion to the radial vanes resulting in sequential movement of adjacentrolls over a chute formed in the interior of the housing. Thus, eachtime a roll is disposed above chute 50 it is caused to be dispensed tothe user.

Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 8, in order is prevent more than one rollfrom passing through the chamber overlying chute 50, a chute cover 48having the shape of a keyhole is freely mounted to the shaft 26 at apoint immediately below the frustoconical member 30. The lateral edgesof the cover are indicated by 52 to be downwardly turned so that as thedistributor 36 rotates, any rolls riding atop the rolls in already thedistributor chambers are caused to move over the chute cover as itapproaches chute 50. As will be seen in FIG. 3, the radially outward endportion of the chute cover is connected by means of a spring 54 to anadjacently positioned deflector 34. The spring connection causes thechute cover to be biased in a chute covering position with the abilityto yield when engaged by a riding roll atop the distributor. By yieldingto the roll, the chute cover causes no damage to the riding roll. As thedistn'butor is rotated, the riding roll is caused to slide over thechute cover due to the downturned edges 52 mentioned hereinbefore. Thus,by utilizing the present chute cover, the dispensing of a single roll ata time is insured. Thus, the chute cover is designed so as not to injureor damage stored rolls which engage the cover.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, a heater assembly 56 is seen to be aroundthe shaft 26 and between the frustoconical member 30 and the base plate28. The heater assembly includes an arcuate insulator ring 58 beingcontoured in a horseshoe shape. The outward ends of the insulator areanchored within mounting trips 60. A heater element 62 iswound aroundthe insulator. One end of the heater element is connected to the firstterminal of a thermostat by means of connecting wire 64. The thermostatis indicated by reference numeral 66. The second terminal of the of thethermostat is connected to the first lead of an input power line 67,(FIG. 1) by a connecting lead 68. The opposite end of the heater elementis connected to the second lead of the power line by a connecting lead69. The

purpose of the thermostat is to control the temperature in the dispenserhousing. Of course,'either connector lead 64 or 69 may be seriallyconnected to a switch which controls energization of the heater element62.

In order to insulate the generated heat from the lower shaft rotatingmechanism, aninsulating layer 70 is concentrically disposed around theshaft 26. However, a portion of the insulating layer 70 is cut away toform the aforementioned chute 50 shown in FIG. 8.

The shaft is supported at an intermediate portion thereof by a setcollar 72 fixed to the shaft at a point immediately beneath the baseplate 28. A fiber washer 74 is embedded within the insulating layer 70and acts as a bearing for the set collar 72. A bushing 76 is disposedaround the shaft 26 immediately beneath the fiber washer 74. The lattermentioned bushing includes an annular flange 78 riveted to the loweredge of the bushing 76 and secured to a housing mounting plate 80 bymeans of suitable fasteners 82. The mounting plate 80 is affixcd to thewalls of the housing by welding 84 or the like.

The means for moving shaft 26 in incremental steps is particularlyillustrated in FIG. 6 and indicated by reference numeral 86. A secondview of the same mechanism is shown in FIG.. wherein there will be seena cylindrical member 88 mounted to the shaft 26. The cylindrical memberincludes a number of circumferentially spaced pegs or teeth 90 extendingvertically downwardly from the underside of the cylindrical member. Themember and the attached teeth serve as a ratchet. An elongated arm 92 ispivotally connected to the plunger of an electrical solenoid 94. The arm92 is generally disposed tangentially to the circle generated by theteeth 90.

In the steady state condition, shown in FIG. 5, a first notch 96 in thefree end portion of the arm engages one of the teeth 90a. Anintermediately disposed notch 98 engages an adjacent tooth 90b. In FIG.6 there will be shown a plate or dish 106 pressed against trigger 22disposed below the exit chute 24 of the dispenser, as shown in FIG. 1.The trigger is pivotally mounted at an opposite end thereof to mountingplate 80 by means of a hinge 108. A bracket 110 serves as a mechanicalstop to limit the inward displacement of the trigger 22. When thetrigger is pushed up against the stop, the actuator 112 of microswitch114 is depressed thereby closing the switch for causing energization ofthe solenoid 94. This results in the arm moving inwardly of the solenoid94 which causes cylindrical member 88 to move clockwise, as shown, untilan approaching tooth 91 cams against the edge 93 of the arm. Thiscamming action continues until the arm pivots to a position whereinfurther motion is arrested by mechanical stop 122. FIG. 7 illustratesthis set condition wherein tooth 90b is disengaged, tooth 90a is engagedby recess 96, and tooth 91 bears against edge 93. After a product hasbeen dispensed on the plate 106, the plate is removed from the trigger22 thereby disengaging the solenoid.

A coil spring 100 is connected at opposite ends thereof between theoutward end 102 of arm 92 and the housing at point 104. Upon solenoiddeenergization, the spring forces the arm edge 93 to ride over tooth 91until the tooth becomes engaged in recess 96 which reestablishes theinitial condition shown in FIG. 5. The relation of the arm 92 and thecylinder 88 may be fairly characterized-as pawl and ratchet action.

Each time the shaft is rotated to the next incremental position, thedispenser distributor 36 is rotated to a location wherein the center ofan adjacent chamber defined by the radial vanes 40 is disposed above thechute 50. Therefore, each time trigger 22 is depressed another roll willbe dispensed.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

Wh'atlclaim as new is as follows: 1. An article dispenser enclosed in ahousing having a dispensing chute, the dispenser comprising a shaft,rotatable distributor means fixed to the shaft for loading articlestherein and delivering the articles to the chute entrance, a covermounted on the shaft above the distributor means, the cover beingyieldably biased to shield the chute so that only one article can bedispensed at a time when the distributor means assumes an unloadingposition over the chute, means responsive to triggering action forrotating the shaft in fixed increments permitting dispensing of anarticle by the distributor means at each increment of shaft rotation,switch means for effecting the triggering action, and heater meansmounted under the distributor means for permitting heat to risetherethrough and causing the heating of articles disposed in thehousing.

2. The device set forth in claim I wherein the distributor meansincludes apertures formed therein for permitting heat flow from theheater means through the distributor means to the stored articles.

3. An article dispenser enclosed in a housing having a dispensing chute,dispenser comprising a shaft, rotatable distn'butor means fixed to theshaft for loading articles therein and delivering the articles to thechute entrance, a cover mounted on the shaft above the distributor meansshielding the chute entrance for preventing more than one article frombeing delivered to the chute entrance at a time, the cover having meansfor deflecting articles over the cover, and biasing means connected tothe cover for maintaining the cover in the shielding position, thebiasing means permitting the cover to yield in response to contactingarticles until the deflecting means complete deflection of the articlesover the cover at which time the cover returns to the shieldingposition.

4. The structure set forth in claim 3 wherein the deflecting meanscomprises at least one flange angularly offset from an edge of thecover.

1. An article dispenser enclosed in a housing having a dispensing chute,the dispenser comprising a shaft, rotatable distributor means fixed tothe shaft for loading articles therein and delivering the articles tothe chute entrance, a cover mounted on the shaft above the distributormeans, the cover being yieldably biased to shield the chute so that onlyone article can be dispensed at a time when the distributor meansassumes an unloading position over the chute, means responsive totriggering action for rotating the shaft in fixed increments permittingdispensing of an article by the distributor means at each increment ofshaft rotation, switch means for effecting the triggering action, andheater means mounted under the distributor means for permitting heat torise therethrough and causing the heating of articles disposed in thehousing.
 2. The device set forth in claim 1 wherein the distributormeans includes apertures formed therein for permitting heat flow fromthe heater means through the distributor means to the stored articles.3. An article dispenser enclosed in a housing having a dispensing chute,dispenser comprising a shaft, rotatable distributor means fixed to theshaft for loading articles therein and delivering the articles to thechute entrance, a cover mounted on the shaft above the distributor meansshielding the chute entrance for preventing more than one article frombeing delivered to the chute entrance at a time, the cover having meansfor deflecting articles over the cover, and biasing means connected tothe cover for maintaining the cover in the shielding position, thebiasing means permitting the cover to yield in response to contactingarticles until the deflecting means complete deflection of the articlesover the cover at which time the cover returns to the shieldingposition.
 4. The structure set forth in claim 3 wherein the deflectingmeans comprises at least one flange angularly offSet from an edge of thecover.